Fuel prices also impacting train travel

Federal energy officials are urging Americans to fight back against rising energy prices by doing things like parking their cars and taking other mass-transit options. At the same time, the country’s only passenger railroad has announced it’ll charge more for a ticket. Amtrak’s Mark Magliari says it shouldn’t make much different to the train-riding public.After spending some time talking to passengers, Magliari says the railroad decided to go ahead with its plan to raise fares in October. He says for most customers here in the Midwest, the price difference will be less than ten dollars a ticket, and probably less than five. Speaking on a cellphone while he rode a train to Chicago, Magliari said the ticket-price increase is blamed on the rising cost of fuel.He says the railroad’s cost of doing business is going up, just like everyone else’s. The locomotives run on diesel fuel, which is one of the products going up steeply in cost, and he says the ticket price hike is one way of coping with that increased expense. A lot of businesses face the same issues Amtrak does, and a lot of car drivers do, too. Magliari says the increase in the cost of an Amtrak ticket pales by comparison with the increase people are seeing in what it costs to fill the tanks of their cars and trucks. The ticket price increase will take effect in October. In Iowa, Amtrak stops in Fort Madison, Burlington, Mount Pleasant, Ottumwa, Osceola and Creston.